


Smells Like Cherry Blossoms

by porcupine



Category: Free!
Genre: Attempting to be Canon Compliant, Feelings! Feelings Everywhere!, HARURINRALIA, Haru is ★Special★, High ☆ Speed!, Lots of drama, M/M, Makoto is an Oblivious Flirt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rin is a Hopeless Romantic, Rin is still RinRin deep inside, Slow Build, Sousuke Arrives 15 Minutes Late With Starbucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 23:00:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2709842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcupine/pseuds/porcupine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin just wants to find true love, but what he finds is that the way to it is full of surprises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smells Like Cherry Blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing this because I need it.  
> Not a native English speaker so bear with me.

So maybe that wasn't a mistake. 

Maybe he did notice that the last room available in this hotel was a 'double bed private' when he was making the booking.

Seriously it’s kind of hard to miss something like that...

He had to think about if for a minute before clicking the ‘reserve’ button of course, as it would have been extremely embarrassing if Haru figured he booked this kind of room for them _on purpose._

But then again considering how spontaneous this whole ordeal was, the options were few and this hotel was comfortably located, affordable, and said Haru was a simple country boy who has never gone too far away from his bathtub, not to talk about Japan... So any explanation for their 'special' sleeping arrangements would have probably worked. Hell, Rin could have even told him that “in Australia everyone sleep _under_ the bed” and that villager wouldn't have doubted him for a second... 

Besides, it would have been nice to have Haru close... Late at night... In an intimate environment... 

Where maybe they can talk quietly in the dark before they fall asleep...

About nothing in particular...

Just stuff.

Stuff like...

their feelings...

like... their feelings...

for each other...

Hey, never hurts to set the mood, right?

So double bed it was!

 

Rin had it all planned in his head already to make sure Haru doesn't even suspect that he knew about them having to share a bed or that it was by any means intentional. 

They will go in, Haru will see the bed and immediately say “What is this, Rin?“ and then Rin would explain “Oh there must have been a mistake! Man... This stuff happen all the time...” He’d shake his head and sigh. ”Outside of Japan everybody are just slacking off on their job...tsk tsk”

And when Haru will protest and demand it to be fixed, Rin would just say “Well its really late... And we're both tired.. C'mon Haru... This bed is huge! Two people can fit comfortably in there. It’s just sharing a bed... Jeez, why you’re making such a big deal out of this?” Then Haru would get embarrassed for making a big deal out of this and do that turn his head to the side thing and no further questions will be asked. 

Perfect.

This plan of course failed miserably when upon entering the room, Rin saw what was the most pathetic excuse for a double sized bed he has ever seen in his life. Did they just put two pillows on a single sized bed?? Why the hell was it so small?? 

And worse, Haru didn't say anything. 

Which then made Rin feel like he had to say something or it would have turned really awkward really fast if none of them showed any objection to sleeping together in this tiny bed .

“Huh?! You’ve got to be kidding me! Look!” _Yeah, **Look** Haru! Can't you see whats wrong with this picture?! _

But that cultured-shocked fish-brain was just standing there like “Nope. Dunno what your'e talking about. When in Rome... ” 

All this made Rin somewhat nervous for some reason, blaming it on the first thing that came to mind and making a whole big scene out of it. Even going as far as complaining at the reception and demanding to change rooms.

The “name confusion” excuse seemed to have worked on Haru, but not really on the reception lady who was looking at him the whole time like “Uhu... We automatically assume men and women want to sleep in the same bed together... Sure honey... I don't care if you were trying to bang your friend over there and he wasn't really into that. I'm not changing your room for that.” 

_Yeah..._ Rin looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror where he was currently brushing his teeth. _Just saying that this was the only room available or the only one he could afford would probably make a better excuse than blaming it on Australian people actually knowing what gender Japanese names supposed to be._

But there was no way in hell he would ever admit that he was even remotely responsible for this! 

Also he was kind of freaking out there a little... Why the hell Haru seemed so comfortable sharing a bed with him anyway? Even if that idiot did honestly believe all guys in Australia loved cuddling their male buddies when they were sleeping, didn't mean he had to just go along with that so eagerly.

_Wait a minute..._ Didn't Haru suggest they share a bed that one time when they were having a sleep over? Was that not just a jab at Rin? Could it mean that...

Rin felt his cheeks start to burn.

Well, he wanted to have Haru close to him so that they could talk, but he wasn't sure he was ready for... umm... 

other... things. 

Not that it was completely out of the question... After all, even if not exactly his type, Haru was attractive... He had to admit that. 

He definitely wouldn't mind putting some new interesting expressions on that apathetic pretty face of his.

But Rin had to stop that train of thought because he felt like he was getting way ahead of himself there.

They were just going to talk. That's it.

He continued brushing his teeth, putting a little bit extra efforts into it.

For no particular reason... 

 

Rin always figured that if anything would ever happen between him and another guy it would probably be with Sousuke. 

Ok no, more like he desperately wanted it to be with Sousuke.

But Sousuke never seemed to be getting the hint that Rin wanted something more. Something more special. Something more meaningful. 

He wasn't getting it when they were kids, and he wasn't getting it now. 

Although he did finally understand what Rin meant back then when he was trying to make the ultimate relay team. And Its not like Sousuke's realization about the significance of true friendship and teamwork was completely meaningless to him.

It’s just that now, the things Rin wanted have changed. 

It wasn't so much about his father and trying to find a way to connect with him anymore. The things he wanted were more personal now. More about Rin.

Of course he still cared about friendships and swimming. But maybe instead of things like: _“You inspire me, Rin”, “I want to swim with you again, Rin”, “I want to become your true friend, Rin”, “Lets swim the relay together, Rin”_

Maybe now he would have liked to hear things more like: _“I've missed you, Rin”, “I couldn't stop thinking about you, Rin” , “I just wanted to see you again, Rin”,_

 

_“I love you, Rin”_

 

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and had to stop the brushing movement for a second before he continued.

Really, It's not like it was only wishful thinking. There were obvious deep feelings there. There was want and thirst and so much care in Sousuke's eyes whenever he looked at him. Who knows, maybe that's what even made Rin yearn so much for this kind of stuff from him in the first place. 

Anyway, Rin KNEW Sousuke wanted to cross the friendship line probably just as bad as he did. It showed all over his face! But that just made it even more annoying. Because Sousuke just kept talking about 'Friendship' and 'Swimming' and... Bullshit! Complete bullshit! That's what it was! 

Rin was obviously still upset about the strange way his friend chose to show how much he means to him. He seriously didn't understand Sousuke's reasoning for appearing in his life again and getting his hopes up about the possibility of spending the next few years together on the same team again only to crush them with something retarded like “Oops, sorry Rin, I guess I wanted to swim with you so much I will never swim with you again! Haha. Ohh there you go crying again...” 

_Of course I'm crying you heartless jerk! What was the point of all of this??_ He spit in the sink. A little bit more angrily then he intended.  
Did Sousuke just came back to show him what he can't have anymore? Why he didn't say anything from the start? Like before Rin got all excited about sharing a future together with him.

"Because I knew you would cry" 

_Well maybe if you didn't lie to me I wouldn't have cried, you ass!_

Not that he cried or anything...

Yeah, he thought about Sousuke in the last 5 years. And he really felt his pain when he told him his- **Their** dream won't come true for him. But knowing Sousuke will not be swimming anymore really wouldn't hurt as bad if he wasn't getting used to having him around again and realizing how much he missed him and how much he wants this to last.

_I appreciate you going as far as completely wrecking your shoulder to swim with me, Sousuke. But you're missing the point here..._

Which is that more than swimming with him, he just wanted him to be there. 

Rin sighed wiping his face with a towel.

No matter how much their relationship has changed since elementary school, somehow it was all still the same. 

Sousuke just didn't get it. 

Whatever, no one said he was going to wait for him this time either.

Specially not Right now, when he had Haruka Nanase waiting for him in bed. 

Rin smiled to himself.

_Exactly like last time..._ Sousuke didn't want to swim the relay with him so he found someone else that would. 

The fact that it was Haruka again was surprising though to say the least. 

Really, Rin still couldn't believe any of this was actually happening. Specially since their last talk in the locker room... 

Not Haru being there in Australia with him.

And definitely not Haru having any kind of 'significant feelings' for him. 

But apparently that was the case.

At least according to Makoto Tachibana. Who everyone knew was Haru's translator...


End file.
